Arch 101 Final Learning PortfolioLili (Cathy) Mao

5/22/2013

Description of the final project:

Our Arch 101 final project began with individual exploration and development of our own small scaled environmental installation. We were then tasked to come together as a team and to choose a site for our full-size installation. Within the "town" site that was assigned to our class section, our group of five choose site #8 for its unique context and climatic conditions.

We felt the site had various strengths and weaknesses: Strengths: Greater human traffic flow; Proximity to greenery; Lots of direct sunlight; Not as windy as other sites (later we discovered it's actually MORE windy!); No visible boundary. Weaknesses: Noise from the soccer field; Extremely cold and often windy; Lack of vertical supporting elements; Lack of built-in seating elements.

Project Brief:

Our goal was to create three experiential nodal environments, with the following characteristics:

1) One environment that would promote accidental encounters and the opportunity to socialize with others; 2) One environment that provides for one person to site and quietly reflect, relax, or read for pleasure;3) A visual presentation that is beautiful and compelling.

We hoped to achieve these goals through enhancing the strengths and compensating for the weaknesses of our building site.

In my individual final design, I was inspired by the ‘Cloud City’ that is located on the roof of MET. I used more of a geometric shape like hexagon to create seating pod like structure. Inspired by our professor Jerry during class critique, the hexagons grew wings and became a blanket.

After evaluation each other’s individual models, we consolidated and finalized on 4 major elements. 1) perforated rope skin; 2) vertical pallet garden; 3) seating elements, 4) hexagon canopy.

Individual exploration and development of small scaled environmental installation.

It was then decided that we will incorporate the canopy as an addition to the seating ele-ments below. Because of the complexity in design, time collaboration among team members, we decided to work in 2 teams in pursuit of each final design.

Iteration #1 Iteration #2 Iteration #3

Perforated rope skin

This unmanila rope wraps the structure to create an enclosing skin. However, this barrier is perforated for light and views while still providing shelter from the wind.

Vertical pallet garden

Inspired by a rustic aesthetic and sustainability concerns, we decided to adapt wooden pallets into our structure. By joining several pieces together vertically and putting plants in the slats, we created stable and sturdy botanical walls that shield the wind yet bring nature closer.

Seating elements

We were driven to create spaces where people can gather and socialize comfortably. Siting down is essential to relaxing and conversation. Inspired by the EKKO - architectural and sound installation in Denmark by Thilo Frank, we used warm-looking wood to create a solid slat bench that breaks the coldness of the concrete.

Overhanging hexagon canopy

Our overhead hexagon design started out as grounded seating pods inspired by Tomas Saraceno’s ‘Cloud City’, located on the roof of The Met. As the design evolved, the hexagons grew wings and became an airborne canopy, suspended by a system of radiating cables.

The topological form of our hexagon canopy is inspired by Studio Aisslinger’ s Light Wave for Bombay Sapphire, with alternating convex and concave shapes that piece together to create fluid movement.

Cutting the inside hexagon into 3 pieces with each of internal angle being 120 degrees, not only does it fits the bigger hexagon at the corner perfectly, it also saves material by using al-most every inch of it.

As the cutting and assembling progressed, we discovered that we could have also used the center piece hexagon as an washer for the eye hooks suggested by our professor Jerry. Unfor-tunately, we didn’t save all the center pieces due to early assumption that they weren’t good for anything.

Instead investing in thousands expensive metal hinges, we designed our own hinge using canvas fabric which is tough enough to withhold streching and pulling without tearing. By sandwiching the canvas hinge with 2 pieces of wood and screwing through the 2 pre-laser-cutted pilot hole, the pressure they create hold the canvas hinge tightly in place.

Investigating ways to connect from one hexagon to another

Radiating cable system

cannot be tightly secured by bolt and nut to the wall couldn’t give us the structure support we needed. So We resorted to the one pole that can be tightly secured and re-inforced it. Our hexagon canopy weighs about 130 lbs. We decided to use steel cable to support it. It spans about 45 feet across the court yard from the curved wall to the edge of second floor. Consider how expensive it would be to get roughly 150 feet, we were extremely lucky to have an classmate whose dad gernerously lended his steel cable to our installation.

We originally wanted to do parallel cable system. After our proto-type, we realized that 2 poles along the interior curve wall that

Material : 8 sheets of underlayment plywood 4’x8’ ~5 yards of canvas ~5000 #6 x 1/2” metal sheet screws

Kit of parts : 480 hexagons ~2800 connectors ~1400 canvas hinges

Hours into laser cutter: 30 hours (hexagon, connector, and hinges all together)Hours into assembling and hanging: 55 hours +

In persuit of speed, we developed the assembly line. We have one person focus on screwing the screws onto the connectors. So another person can screw the screw through the connector, the hinge and the hexagon easily without having to hold down the wobbling screw. It was simple and easy to repeat. Every 5 hexagons together became a component.

After all the components were assembled, we begin to combine the components into one single blanket. We had one designated person to giving directions and the rest of group followed.

Final installation of the hexagon canopy

Reflections:

My biggest mistake during this project was thinking that perfection should be the goal of each design. The truth is that there is no perfect design, only better and worse ones that can be improved through iteration.

One issue I struggled with during this portfolio writeup was that I didn't cre-ate enough documentation. I had to recall much of my projects from memory. I find my subconscious is very critical of my work, whether it's a drawing, an idea, or a model that i spent 6 hours + on. So I didn't really document anything along the way until really late into the semester. Seeing all my teammates documenting everything made me realize how lazy I was. So that was one bitter lesson learned.

One of the most important things I learned as a designer is that there should be a reason for every element and decision in a design. In architecture, there is no place for the arbitrary or purposeless. Something that stood out this semester was that, especially with five members, working in a group makes things a lot more complicated. Sometimes I wished I was working alone, but there was never a shortage of great ideas and feedback. I have always enjoyed working by myself because I'm the only one that I need to satisfy and respond to when making decisions. Working in a group has been really

eye-opening, and I ended up enjoying most of the confrontation and variety.

After this project, I feel more inspired to explore new tools. The laser cutter was the tool that our group had access to and no other groups did, and it gave us an edge. I felt like it opened up a whole new sky for us to think on outside the box and beyond the conventional way of making. In a world where 3d printing makes the news every other day, and people working rigorously on Artificial Intelligence, how can we stand not to?